A well-made movie consists of many aspects: production, actors, sets, costumes, the script, cinematography, the director who organizes it all, and the music. When all of these elements come together, the film is truly a masterpiece worthy of praise and maybe even an Academy Award or two. However, when one of these aspects is lacking, it becomes obvious that the movie is missing something and feels incomplete or lacks a certain quality without it.
One aspect that is often taken for granted is the film score. Scores and soundtracks provide the backdrop for the film, and in many cases, even tells the audience what emotions they should be feeling during certain moments of the film. For example, horror films will often have minimal soundtracks, relying heavily on the concept that less is more. Yet, those soundtracks set our nerves on edge, hinting at the horror that is to occur. That’s because those soundtracks often play with minor keys, which have a darker and creepier sound in themselves, and will then blast at full volume when a jump scare occurs.
In contrast, however, are the soundtracks for musicals which are normally light, airy, upbeat, and perfect for breaking out into a big dance number. Common things in musical soundtracks include key changes which literally take things up a notch, and going into double-time, which sounds like a musical rollercoaster since it makes the song twice as fast.
Good film composers know how to use these various musical elements to the film’s advantage to convey its messages and themes. Today, we are looking at a very specific style of music in the film industry and that is techno. Techno soundtracks are ideal for sci-fi films, such as those set in dystopian realms or movies centered around robots, video games, or other machines. With a combination of excellent needle drops and original compositions, these are some of the best techno soundtracks in movies.
6 Nerve
“Welcome to Nerve, a game like truth or dare, minus the truth. Watchers pay to watch. Players play to win cash and glory. Are you a watcher or a player?” Nerve is a 2016 action thriller film that follows boring high school senior Vee Delmonico (Emma Roberts), who is pressured by her friends to play Nerve, a popular online game that challenges players to accept a series of dares tasked to them by the watchers, who pay players to do various tasks, some meaningless and others dangerous or felonious.
The entire movie is centered around an online game and the score mirrors this. Composed by Rob Simonsen, the score is a dark combination of techno and guitar notes which gives the film a video-game ambiance throughout, and the soundtrack is stuffed with mainstream elctro-pop songs that flesh out the synthy sounds of the film.
5 Hackers
Hackers follows a group of school hackers who accidentally get involved with a master hacker who calls himself “Plague” and plans on stealing $25 million. Now, it’s up to the ragtag team of teenagers (including a very young Angelina Jolie) to stop him or take the blame for his actions instead. Hackers may not be a great film, and it certainly hasn’t aged well as the technology is really dated, but the techno soundtrack is still one of the best. The soundtrack is upbeat, fast-paced, and features a variety of techno beats, sampling a wide selection of choice cuts from the '90s.
4 Run Lola Run
Run Lola Run is a 1998 German film that sometimes feels like one giant, exciting music video rather than a movie. Lola (Franka Potente) will go to great lengths to help her boyfriend who is in trouble. He was supposed to deliver smuggled money to his boss, but he accidentally left the cash in a subway car. In despair, he calls his girlfriend, and Lola sprints through the streets of Berlin with the hopes of begging the money from her father (Herbert Knaup), who manages a bank.
The film cycles through several variations of the storyline in which small gestures irrevocably alter future events, with Run Lola Run re-starting each time with just as much energy. In addition to being a visually stunning film, Run Lola Run has a soundtrack that perfectly accompanies Lola’s running by matching it with squelchy basslines, spiky synths, and heavy beats.
3 Blade
This dark superhero film follows Blade, a half-mortal, half-immortal vampire who seeks revenge on the vampires for attacking and killing his mother when she was pregnant with him many years ago. Now equipped with the tendencies of a vampire’s thirst for blood but possessing none of their other weaknesses, Blade seeks to destroy the entire race of the undead. While dark for its time, Blade’s success and interconnected trilogy helped pave the way for other Marvel film comic book adaptations.
Its music, a blend of techno, hip hop, and hard rock, is unsettling but cool and hypnotizing to listen to. A standout on the soundtrack is the Pump Panel Reconstruction mix of Confusion by New Order (which helped create one of the most thrilling opening scenes in movie history and helped introduced hard techno to the world), not to mention KRS-One and Channel Live’s Blade, which is the movie’s title track and a hybrid of hip hop and techno.
2 Unleashed
What happens when orphan Danny is raised as a dog by crime boss Bart? The result is a man who acts like an animal and only knows how to fight and do his master’s bidding. However, after Bart is attacked and presumed dead, Danny flees and meets Sam, a kindhearted blind pianist who takes him in, cares for him, and shows him what it means to be human. But things will soon change when Bart comes looking for Danny. Unleashed, also known as Danny the Dog, is an action thriller film starring Jet Li as the title character and featuring a slick techno score by Massive Attack that propels the film forward with exciting energy, especially in the incredible action sequences.
1 Tron Legacy
Sam (Garrett Hedlund) has always been haunted by the mysterious disappearance of his father, video-game developer Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges), who vanished years ago. After a clue leads him to his father’s abandoned arcade, Sam discovers the Grid, the same cyberworld that has been holding his father captive for 20 years. Beautiful and magnificent, this cyberworld of Tron: Legacy is also dark and dangerous, and escaping won’t be as easy as entering it. With its bright lights and cool contraptions, the Grid is visually stunning with a soundtrack that matches its otherworldly feel. Legendary French electronic music duo Daft Punk composed a soundtrack that is perfectly befitting for the Grid. It’s mysterious, mesmerizing, and hints at darker things to come. In addition to the techno songs, Daft Punk also partnered with an 85-piece orchestra to aid them with their musical storytelling, fleshing out their score into an epic masterpiece.